South Korea Shares May Return From Holiday To The Upside

10/9/2017 7:01 PM ET

Ahead of the long break for the Harvest Festival, the South Korea stock market had tracked higher in two straight sessions, gathering almost 25 points or 1 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,395-point plateau, and it may bounce higher on Tuesday as it catches up on missed positive sentiment.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, with a lack of catalysts offset by mild upside from crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were barely lower and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on September 29 following gains from the technology stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index picked up 21.33 points or 0.90 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,394.47 after moving as low as 2,378.66.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks showed a lack of direction on Monday before ending slightly lower.

The Dow shed 12.60 points or 0.06 percent to 22,761.07, while the NASDAQ lost 10.45 points or 0.16 percent to 6,579.73 and the S&P 500 slipped 4.60 points or 0.18 percent to 2,544.73.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as many traders were away from their desks due to the Columbus Day holiday. While the stock markets were open, the bond markets, banks, and non-essential federal government offices were closed.

Looking ahead, financial giants Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), and Wells Fargo (WFC) are due to report their quarterly results later this week as the earnings season gets underway.